Where Does RStudio Store Settings and Preferences?
RStudio stores prefs, themes and keybindings in one per-user settings folder. Windows and Unix paths plus the reset procedure.
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RStudio keeps per-user settings in a single folder: rstudio-prefs.json for Global Options, plus subfolders for themes, snippets, keybindings and dictionaries. On Mac and Linux that folder is ~/.config/rstudio; on Windows it is %APPDATA%\RStudio. The paths are official and stable across recent releases.
The Mac path is the surprise: RStudio uses ~/.config/rstudio on macOS too, not ~/Library/Application Support. Session state is a second folder under ~/.local/share on Linux, which is the one to clear when RStudio hangs on startup. RSTUDIO_CONFIG_HOME relocates the settings folder when roaming profiles or containers demand it.
Where RStudio stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\RStudio
rstudio-prefs.json holds Global Options; themes, snippets, keybindings and dictionaries sit in subfolders. An older issue notes some state historically leaked to AppData\Local, so check both if migrating. RSTUDIO_CONFIG_HOME overrides this path.
~/.config/rstudio
Not ~/Library/Application Support: RStudio follows the XDG-style ~/.config/rstudio path on macOS too. Same rstudio-prefs.json and subfolder layout as Linux. RSTUDIO_CONFIG_HOME overrides it when set.
~/.config/rstudio
Same settings layout as macOS. Session and crash-recovery state lives separately under ~/.local/share/rstudio; rename both folders for a full reset. System-wide defaults live in /etc/rstudio and lose to per-user files.
Frequently asked questions
how do i reset rstudio when it will not start
Close RStudio, rename ~/.config/rstudio (or %APPDATA%\RStudio) to a backup name, and also rename the session-state folder under ~/.local/share/rstudio on Linux. Relaunching rebuilds both from defaults. If the problem was a corrupt session, it starts clean; your projects are untouched.
how do i copy rstudio settings to another computer
Copy rstudio-prefs.json to the same settings path on the new machine before launching RStudio there. Themes, snippets and keybindings move the same way from their subfolders. Project files (.Rproj) live with your code and travel separately.
where is the rstudio project file stored
With your code, not with the settings. The .Rproj file sits in the project directory and just records project-local options. RStudio's own preferences stay in the per-user folder above, shared across every project you open.
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